A Tipton Christmas
by Yandeim Nareim
Summary: Christmas at the Tipton.
1. Getting Ready for Christmas

_A Tipton Christmas_

A/N: Yes, I know it is nowhere near Christmas, but I decided to do this anyway. The first chapter was short, but I'm going to make the rest longer. I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

It was 7:00 PM on December 14th while Mr. Moseby carefully placed the bright star atop the beautiful mellow green Tipton Christmas Tree. It was nicely decorated with multi-colored lights a green ornaments with a gold 'T' printed on them. He then stepped back to look at it. He always enjoyed Christmas. Not only did it bring in a lot of business, but also Zack and Cody weren't destroying the hotel. Also, all the guests were usually in their rooms, so it was peaceful in the lobby.

The elevator beeped and Zack and Cody stepped out. Zack jumped down the two stairs and immediately turned to the candy counter while Cody sat in front of the fireplace, admiring the Christmas Tree.

"Hey sweet thing," Zack exclaimed. Maddie rolled her eyes without a reply. "You staying here this Christmas?" Zack asked. "Yes, my family decided to spend Christmas here at the Tipton," replied Maddie. "Me too," said Zack smoothly, and Maddie just rolled her eyes again. "Are you actually getting anything here this time?" asked Maddie. "Surprisingly, yes. I want two of those new Christmas bars!" Maddie got out two small rectangular candy bars that were decorated with red and green stripes. Zack got out a dollar and set it on the counter as he got the bars, and went to sit next to his twin brother.

The two were there for around an hour and a half talking about random stuff as the sun set outside. Once it got night time, Zack got up and glanced one more time at the Christmas tree before getting up. He then noticed that his brother was asleep. He kicked him in the foot to wake him up.

"Hey, what was that for?" Cody asked as he slowly got up. "I was waking you up," said Zack, grinning. "You could have done it a little less painfully!" said Cody. "Nope, that's impossible," said Zack. They both got on the elevator and rode it up to the floor their suite was on, and then stepped out of the elevator. They noticed that their mom was asleep on the couch with an ornament in her hand. She hadn't gotten done on the tree yet. Cody went into their bedroom and Zack decided to have a little fun. He grinned as he took his hand and crept it along his mom's shoulder like a spider. Her eyes slowly opened, and then she jumped and started swatting her shoulder. Zack laughed while clutching his stomach. "Get to bed, Zack," Carrie said, rolling her eyes. He went to his bedroom, still laughing.


	2. Snowball Fight

_A Tipton Christmas_

_Chapter 2_

_A Snowball Fight_

A/N: Remember that Maddie's family lives at the Tipton as well.

Zack got up at 6 AM. He was tired, but he still got up and got ready. At 6:30, he was ready, but everyone else was still asleep. He went into his bedroom, and marked off another day, making it one day closer to Christmas. He decided to go to the lobby and get some hot chocolate.

Zack stepped out of the elevator on the floor in the lobby. He ran straight for the Dining Room. There were only two older couples there eating breakfast. Zack went to the center of the room, where the drinks were. He got a Styrofoam cup, and filled it with hot chocolate. He went into the lobby, and sat in one of the comfortable chairs next to the fireplace. He quickly drank his hot chocolate.

He then looked outside, and noticed it was snowing. He bolted to the elevator, and quickly pressed the button to the 23rd floor. Once he got there, he quickly went to their suite. When he got into his bedroom, Cody was just waking up. "Come on, Cody. Wake up, it's snowing!" Zack exclaimed. Cody quickly opened his eyes, and looked out the window. Zack was right. He quickly put on two layers to keep warm, as Zack put on his extra layer. They ran out of the suite, and got into the elevator. Once they were in the lobby, they ran out of the door.

It was snowing lightly, and it had been all night, causing a two inch thick layer of beautiful miniscule white crystals on the ground. Zack quickly made a snowball, and started rolling it in the ground. "I'll make the bottom layer, you make the middle," said Cody doing the same as Zack. He rolled for a long time, until it was big enough to be the bottom part of a snowman.

Zack had just come back from getting two branches. He set the middle part of the snowman on top of the bottom, and put the sticks on each side of the snowman. Cody got out some buttons he had got from inside before they left and put three on the middle part of the snowman. "I'll make the top part, you get the carrot, scarf, and the other things," said Zack. As Zack started to make the top part of the snowman, Cody went inside.

Cody first went to the Dining Room, and got a carrot. He ripped off the green at the top, and ate the top part of the carrot. He then went to the suite, and got a hat, a scarf, three more buttons, and a black licorice twizzler. He hated them, but Zack liked them. He went back down to the lobby, and outside.

He put the licorice twizzler where the mouth would be, and put the buttons where the two eyes and nose would be. He then carefully placed the hat on the snowman, and loosely wrapped the scarf around the place where the top part and middle part meet. Zack and Cody stepped back to admire their work.

Then Zack sneakily got a snowball, and threw it at Cody. It thumped Cody in the head, making him fall over. Zack laughed really hard, but then a snowball hit him in the stomach. "Oh so that's how it is?" asked Zack in an inquisitive voice. They both quickly started to pack up snow to hide behind during their snowball fight. Once they were both done, they started making snowballs while behind their 'walls'.

Cody smoothed one out carefully. He slowly leaned out to peak, but quickly jerked his head back as a snowball flew past him. He then quickly stood up and threw it at Zack, he ducked to dodge. For another hour or so, they continued throwing snowballs at each other. Then Maddie walked out. Cody quickly ducked behind his cover while Zack, as Cody expected, walked up to her and began talking to her.

Cody made a snowball, and peeked up, seeing Zack still talking to Maddie. He made another snowball two. He threw on at Zack, and the other at Maddie. Both were direct hits. Cody quickly started running as Zack chased after him and Maddie just laughed and went back inside. Zack caught up to Cody, and tackled him. He then made two snowballs, and hit Cody with both of them. "I surrender," said Cody. "Yes, I won this time!" cheered Zack.


	3. Snowman Couple

Chapter 3

A/N: Yes, I had seen that episode, but I was thinking that was a room in the Tipton. Anyway, I changed the first chapter on that part, saying that her family was staying there for Christmas.

The twins were walking back to the hotel from where Zack had chased Cody. They had snowball fights almost every time it snowed. They found them very fun and entertaining. They once again looked at their snowman.

"It looks lonely," said Zack.

"It's a snowman," said Cody. "I think you're just thinking about Maddie."

"Shut up," said Zack. "Let's just make another one for fun then."

"Okay."

They once again began making a few snowballs and rolling them around in the snow to make them bigger. They stacked them on top of each other next to the other snowman. They then got light tan yarn and strode it from the top part of the snowman. It looked like blonde hair. They then added the licorice for the mouth and three buttons where the nose and eyes would be. They then put on a hat and scarf.

Once they finished, their mom walked out. She was on her way to get some groceries. She looked at the two snowmen. She thought they looked cute.

"Awww, it's a snowman couple. Good work, guys," she said.

She then walked in the direction of the grocery store.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" asked Zack.

"I don't know."

They sat there, both of them very bored. They sat down in the snow, and tried to think of something. After about ten minutes, Zack's face lit up.

"I know what we can do!" he exclaimed.

"What?" questioned his twin.

"Well, you know how at the beach we make sand houses?" asked Zack.

"Yeah," Cody said, catching on to Zack's idea.

"Well, we can make a little snow house."

"Awesome!"

They went upstairs to their suite, and began drawing what they wanted the snow house to look like. They talked about it and drew it on paper, and it took them about thirty minutes. On their way back down, they passed their mom in the lobby, and she had two bags of groceries.

They got outside, and began packing snow into tiny walls. They did the front wall first. It stood a foot tall. They were making a snow mansion. The used their fingers to do two holes above the little carving that looked like a door for windows. They then started on the wall next to it, packing snow and setting it up next to the other. They then did the same for the back wall and the other side wall. They then very carefully packed another part of snow, making sure it was packed very solidly. Cody carefully placed it on top of the house, and, to both of the twins' pleasure, it didn't cave in.

"Do you think it will melt or someone will step on it?" asked Zack.

"Probably. You guard it and I'll go get a camera so we can have a picture of it," said Cody.

"Okay," said Zack as Cody went upstairs.

Cody reached the suite, and his mom was on the couch watching TV. He went into their room, and found a camera in his drawer. He took it back outside, and got two pictures of the house. He then decided to get a picture of the snowman couple, since they would probably melt the next morning. So he backed up, and took a picture of them. He then slid the camera in his coat pocket. By then, it was around seven o'clock p.m. so it was dark and cold. They went back inside, and were met by the warmth of the interior of the hotel. They both took off their coats, and set them in an empty chair. Cody started toward the room where the food and drinks were to get more hot chocolate.

"Can you get me some, too?" asked Zack.

"Sure," said Cody.

While Cody was getting the hot chocolate, Zack made his way to the candy counter, where Maddie was still working.

"Hey sweet thang," he said flirtatiously.

"I saw your snowman couple, it was pretty good," said Maddie.

"Yeah, Cody and I worked pretty hard on it. We also made a snow house. Did you see it?" asked Zack.

"No," said Maddie in reply.

"Well, I can show you later. Cody took some pictures of it. I'll show you them once they get developed."

"I can't wait to see them."

Just then, Cody walked into the lobby holding two cups of hot chocolate. He gave one to Zack, and then went over to the couch next to the fireplace. Zack followed and set next to him. They enjoyed the warmth of the fire, and the hot chocolate. Once they got done, they grabbed their coats, and went to their suite, into their bedrooms, and fell asleep.


	4. Writing a Christmas Song

A/N: Good news! I'm finally updating! I hope you like it.

Zack yawned and stretched as he sat up in bed. He had just woken up, and his eyes were still adjusting. Once they were fine, he got up. Cody was already up and sitting on the couch in the living room watching television. He heard Zack walk in, and looked at Zack.

"What time is it?" Zack asked.

"8:24," replied Cody.

"Is it still snowing?" asked Zack, hope in his eyes.

"Yup!" replied Cody with excitement.

"Well, we need to wake mom up first, she can develop our pictures for us!"

"Good idea."

They went into her room, and turned on the light. They started shaking her awake. She raised her arms, and rubbed her eyes. She then slowly opened them.

"What time is it," she asked.

"8:24," replied Cody.

Carrie shot up, her eyes opened wide. She frantically looked at the clock. It now read 8:25.

"Oh my goodness. I forgot to set my alarm. I have to get wardrobe, pick out songs, and get ready for my Christmas concert tonight," she said worriedly.

"Well, while you're out, can you develop our pictures for us?" asked Zack.

"Yes," she replied.

Cody bolted into their room, and was back within seconds with the camera. He set it on her dresser, and they went downstairs and outside to play in the snow some more. They found Maddie out there as well, lying in the snow, making a snow angel.

Zack grinned, and they both went over there. Zack looked down at her admirably.

"No snow angel is angelic as you, baby," he said.

"Awww, that's sweet," she said, smiling.

She didn't know why, but lately she had been greatly appreciating Zack's compliments. She tried to shake it out of her head, but every time he said them, it made her feel good on the inside.

After the three talked for a while, Maddie walked inside, since her shift started at 9 o'clock. The twins then started thinking of something. Maddie had mentioned it would be cool to have a Christmas Battle of the Bands.

"You know, we could suggest this idea to Moseby. We could hold it here at the Tipton, like last time," said Zack.

"Yeah, and I already have some lines for a song that we could write," said Cody.

"I could take up a piano part in it, since I took piano lessons last year," said Zack. He continued, "And you took guitar so you could do a guitar part in it. Max and Tapeworm took voice lessons as well, so our band can reach a whole new level with this Battle of the Bands."

"Yeah. There could be an entry fee of fifteen dollars for every band, and tickets could be five dollars each. Then there could be a cash prize of five hundred to the first place winner, two hundred fifty to second place, and one hundred to third," said Cody while brainstorming.

"Come, on, we need to find Mr. Moseby!" said Zack excitedly.

They ran into the hotel, and saw Moseby at the front desk, where he always was. They jumped down the stairs, and ran to the front desk.

"No running her in the lobby, boys. You could break something," said Moseby, not even looking up.

"Whatever. We have something to request," said Zack.

"What?" asked Moseby, still not looking up.

Cody explained their ideas, and Mr. Moseby nodded through his explanation.

"Well, boys, I'm surprised. This idea is actually well thought-out. It is a wonderful idea. I will say yes to it!" he said, thinking of how much money it would make the Tipton.

"Yes!" shouted the twins excitedly.

While Mr. Moseby began thinking of ways to advertise it, the boys went upstairs to their room, and called Max and Tapeworm, and asked them if they could spend the night tonight to do all the stuff needed to prepare for the Battle of the Bands. They both were allowed, they said they would be over ASAP.

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Max as she arrived at the door two hours later. She had two small bags with her.

"Come on in, Tapeworm's already here. Now we can get started!" exclaimed Cody, who had answered the door.

Max followed him to Zack and Cody's room, and threw her bags in the corner.

"So, which should we talk about first, beat or lyrics?" asked Zack.

"Well, we should start doing beat, so we can match the lyrics to go with the beat well," said Tapeworm.

"Okay, sounds good," said Zack.

"How about this?" said Tapeworm. He started drumming a beat with his hands on the floor.

"No, it sounds too much like a rock song instead of a holiday song," said Max inquisitively. Cody agreed.

They started thinking more. After about an hour or so of thinking, Max started drumming a beat. Tapeworm followed by drumming a slow, peaceful sounding counter addition to the beat. Both Zack and Cody thought it sounded good, as well as Max and Tapeworm.

"What Tapeworm was doing could be the piano part, and Max's could be the guitar," suggested Zack.

They all agreed. For a while, they played the beat in there hands, noting where it would be higher or lower pitches. After about two hours, they had written one verse down in music writing. They had all learned how to read and write music.

"How should the chorus go?" asked Max.

"Well, it needs to flow in with the first verse, but be kind of a different paced beat," replied Zack, thinking.

"How about the guitar part slow down a little, and the piano speed up a little, and then kind of go like this," suggested Tapeworm, drumming on the floor again.

"It is good, but maybe more like this," suggested Zack.

He drummed something very similar to Tapeworm's beat, but just a little different. They all agreed it was good.

"How many verses should there be?" asked Zack.

"How about verse, chorus, verse, chorus two times, shorter verse, and then the chorus again, but fading?" Cody thought aloud.

"Sounds good, but we could add the chorus at the beginning," inquired Tapeworm.

They all agreed again, and continued writing the music for the song.


	5. Writing Lyrics

A/N: Thank you all for reviewing. And if anyone is reading the story, and doesn't review it, I encourage you strongly to do so. Even if you don't like it, please tell me what is wrong with it all, so I may be able to fix it so my writing is better. Anyway, here's another chapter. I hope you enjoy it. And yes, I did make up the lyrics in this chapter, and I'm copywriting them right now! So if you want to use them in your fan fiction, you must ask me first, and if I approve, you still have to give some sort of credit to me in the chapter or whatever it is that you put it in. And that's why it took so long, because I found it quite hard to think up a song all by myself. Anyway, enjoy!

After another five or so hours, they had finally gotten done with all the music for the song.

"Finally, we're done," said Zack, following it with a sigh.

"Not yet," said Tapeworm. He continued, "We still need to come up with the lyrics."

"Oh, I've got that covered!" exclaimed Cody.

He ran over to their closet, and opened it, searching through tons of junk until he finally found a blue spiral notebook. He flipped through the pages for a while, until he finally found his spot, and went back and sat with the others. He showed what was there, which was a long Christmas poem. It read:

_I can feel Christmas day in the air,  
And at Christmas, there's no despair,  
With the green trees, and lights all around,  
And the white snow that covers the ground,  
And when that snow continues to fall,  
Some people gather it into a ball,  
Then they stack the balls, as tall as the can,  
Making good ol' jolly Frosty the Snowman,  
Or some set up a good cozy fire,  
And sit in the warmth, letting their minds desire,  
While drinking nice and warm hot cocoa,  
And watching movies with characters that also do so,_

_Christmas trees ablaze with lights,_

_Of greens, blues, reds, and whites,_

_With Greeting Cards and a lot of turkey,_

_This season makes everyone happy,_

_So gather together around the warmth of the fire,  
And on the holiday of Christmas your hearts will be inspired._

"All we have to do is add a chorus and split it into lyrics," said Max, scanning over the poem.

Cody got a pen, and drew a line under every six lines, separating the verses.

"So now we just need to come up with a chorus," said Cody.

They thought for a while. Then, Cody started with a line. They did this sometimes. One would start with a line, another would follow with the next line, and then another with another line, etc.

"The feeling of Christmas in all of our hearts," started Cody.

"Blazes bright without loosing its spark," said Zack.

"And as the peaceful snow falls, making everything white," said Tapeworm.

"Everyone goes to play, kids and adults alike," said Zack.

"So fill this Christmas Season with cheer," started Tapeworm.

"For it's a holiday that only comes once a year," finished Max.

"That's awesome. Finally, we're done. Now we just need to practice it," said Zack.

"We can't now, look at the clock!" said Tapeworm.

They looked at the clock, which read 10:47 PM. Their mom would be back in only 13 minutes. Luckily, they didn't have school, so they could stay up late. They wrote the chorus on the notepad with the song, and then put in Zack and Cody's room.

They then turned on the Xbox and started playing a first person shooter game. First they played free for all, and Zack placed first, followed by Max, then Cody, then Tapeworm, though the scores were very close. They then did teams of Zack and Cody against Max and Tapeworm. Zack and Cody barely won. They then did Zack and Max against Cody and Tapeworm, in which Cody and Tapeworm were barely able to win. Then they did Max and Cody against Zack and Tapeworm, and Zack and Tapeworm won by a small amount. Then they did another free for all, where Zack won, followed by Cody, then Tapeworm, then Max. Once again, the scores were very close.

Their mom had got to the suite in the middle of the first team game, and she watched the rest of it. She then told everyone goodnight, and went to bed.

They were done playing the last free for all at around 12:53, and then Zack cooked popcorn while Cody put in Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith to watch. Zack cooked another one during the duel between Palpatine and Mace.

It was over at around 2:25, though no one was asleep or even tired. So they put in the first person shooter game again, and played some more. At about 3:49, they were all finally tired, though they were in the middle of a game between Max and Zack against Cody and Tapeworm. Tapeworm had had bad luck from the beginning of the game, always respawning in the worst places, put Max and Zack ahead by twelve. The final score was 50 to 34. They turned the Xbox off, and Max slept on the couch, Cody and Max slept in arm chairs, and Zack slept on the floor. They all fell asleep quickly, with dreams of winning the competition swirling in their heads.

They all woke up to the smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Carey had fixed breakfast, and they quickly got up and ate the delicious breakfast. They had a conversation about the Battle of the Bands while they were eating breakfast.

"So, do you think Arwin will still let us practice in the Laundry Room?" asked Tapeworm.

"Probably. He always loved when we practiced there, so he'll probably want us to practice there some more," replied Zack.

"What about equipment?" asked Max.

"Well, I got a new acoustic guitar for Christmas last year. I took guitar lessons, but I never learned well. You could use it, Cody," said Tapeworm.

"And then I could use the keyboard we had from the last Battle of the Bands," said Zack.

"And we could get two microphones for about $20 each. We've got enough to buy two," said Cody.

"Why don't we all pitch in some money since it is for the whole band?" asked Max.

"Good idea," said Tapeworm.

"Since it's only about $20 each, and we need two, and there's four of us, we could each pitch in $10," said Cody.

"Sounds good," said Zack.


	6. Rehearsing

A/N: Have I mentioned their ages at this point yet? Well, if I haven't, the twins are about 16 right now.

Rock Squared finally got all their equipment in the laundry room and got it all set up. Their new Christmas outfits was a green background with the words 'Rock Squared' on it in red cursive writing, with holly on the top left corner of the letter 'R' in rock. They started to play the song, and it went smoothly for a first time.

After another hour or two, they had gotten it where they could play without errors every now and then. As they continued to play the song, they found some parts with the instruments where they could make a note higher or lower, or change the speed or tempo of one part, or add a short solo, etc. to improve the overall sound of the song. They were definitely getting really good, and this new song was going really well.

Arwin was in the laundry room when they returned from lunch two hours later. They had gone to eat lunch thirty minutes previously to the time, and when they got there, Arwin started to get really excited.

"Oh guys, you're finally here! I can here your new song!" he exclaimed.

"Errr, okay," muttered Zack as they got ready to perform their song.

They rehearsed it once and at the end Arwin was dancing and clapping. As he continued to dance when they started an encore, he slipped on a banana peel and fell over. He raised his right arm lightly.

"I'm okay," he said in a flustered voice, and his arm fell limply to his side.

"Okay," Max said, ignoring Arwin being on the floor, and they began playing again as if nothing had happened.

At around six o'clock pm, they left the laundry room and showered to get rid of the smell, coming back down to the lobby at around seven. Zack had picked up the pictures to take down there so he could show them to Maddie when he was down.

As the ding sounded in the elevator and they stepped out, Zack jumped the few stairs and went to Maddie.

"Hey, sweet thang, I got the pictures developed," he said.

"Ooh, let me see them," Maddie said excitedly.

Zack gave her the pictures and she flipped through them, absent mindedly nodding at every one. There were some that she stopped to look at for a while longer than just a few seconds, like the snow house one, and the one of Zack, Cody, and the snow couple all together. She laughed at some, like the one where Zack was pretending to be in a fight with the snowman, while Cody to pretended to be hitting on the snow woman. After she had seen them all, she set them back down.

"They look good. Good work on them."

"Thanks. Is your band competing in the Battle of the Bands?"

"No, I decided not to, and Waterworks didn't really feel like it either. How about you?"

"Yeah, we are. And we already have a song written and have rehearsed it a few times. Arwin seemed to like it when we performed it to him."

"Cool, I can't wait to hear it."

"Really?" There was excitement in Zack's voice.

"Of course. Since we aren't in it, I want your band to win!"

"Awesome!"

Zack nodded and walked off with the pictures. While he was walking away, he has just thought that he needed to get Maddie a good Christmas gift. As he plopped down on one of the couches in the lobby, he mentally whacked himself for not thinking about it early.

What would be perfect for Maddie? He thought about jewelry, but not only would that be too expensive, but it would be too romantic, and Maddie was only a friend, not a girlfriend. Maybe some money? No, that would make it seem like he was too lazy to put any though in for it, and he didn't want her to think that of him. Well, what did Maddie like?

He thought for around two hours, but still no luck. He had been staring at the Tipton Christmas Tree and drinking some nice hot chocolate while thinking. He decided to think about it the next day more, and drank the last sip and threw the plastic cup. He saw that Maddie was cleaning up the counter. There was no one else in the lobby.

She made her way to the door as he was on his way to the elevator, and they met right next to the door. Zack looked up hopefully, and when he saw it he grinned. There was a small bit of mistletoe hanging above them. He pointed it out to Maddie and grinned happily. He didn't really expect anything to happen, but it was still fun to think about it and taunt her about it.

"Look, sweet thang, there's some mistletoe."

"And?" said Maddie, trying to keep herself from blushing.

"You know what happens when there are two people under the mistletoe, don't you?" Zack asked, still grinning widely.

"Hmm, it seems I don't. Why don't you enlighten me," she said, teasing him.

"Well, technically, you're supposed to kiss."

"Really, is it completely necessary?"

"Not really. You don't have to if you don't want to."

He was about to walk away, but Maddie surprised him with a light peck on the cheek. She then walked gracefully out of the spinning doors of the Tipton. Zack brought his hand up and lightly touched his cheek where Maddie's lips had just brushed his skin. It was short, but it was the best thing he had ever felt. He stood there for quite a while, absorbed in what had just happened, grinning even wider now.

He then rushed towards the elevator. He couldn't wait to tell his twin brother what had happened. He knew Maddie didn't mean anything romantic by it. She was just being friendly, but Zack definitely decided to at least pretend to himself that it had happened in a romantic way.


	7. Sledding

"CODY! CODY! CODY!" Zack shouted loudly as he threw the door of their room open.

Cody shot up in his bed, his eyes half open. "What do you want?" he asked his brother in a half annoyed, half sleepy voice.

"You'll never believe what just happened to me!" Zack exclaimed, ignoring the annoyed look Cody was giving him.

"What, you made your bed?" Cody asked fake excited.

"No," Zack said, like he believed Cody actually meant it when he asked that. "It's even better. Maddie and I were under the mistletoe, and she actually kissed me on the cheek!"

Cody, still half asleep, replied in a sarcastic voice, "Oooh, she kissed you, what a big…" His eyes then shot open. "She kissed you!"

Zack then folded his arms and tilted his head a little, looking proud. "She sure did. Right on the cheek."

"She meant it as a friendly kiss though, right?" Cody said, still surprised that Zack had actually got what he wanted.

Zack then hung his head a little. "Probably, but at least I can pretend that it was more romantic. Well, I'll guess we'll see which one it really was tomorrow when she comes," Zack said, a little bit of hope in his voice.

"I guess so. Now go to bed," Cody said, falling back down in his bed, falling asleep quickly. But Zack went to sleep with a huge grin on his face. He fell asleep after a few minutes of thinking, and dreamed, of course, about Maddie.

The next day, Zack was awoken by the alarm clock. He shot up and threw a glance at the sleeping Cody and then back at the alarm clock, which was next to Cody. He took a pillow and threw it at Cody, which woke Cody up quickly.

"Turn that stupid thing off. I don't even know why you set it," Zack said wearily.

Cody's hand hit the top of the alarm clock, which stopped instantly. He then rolled over and went back to sleep. Zack lay back down, and tried to fall asleep again. But he found it hard. He couldn't do it. So he simply got up, and walked dragged himself to the bathroom door, and slipped in.

Cody woke up half an hour later, as Zack emerged from the bathroom fully dressed in jeans and a sweater.

"About time you woke up," Zack said to his sleep brother as he walked over to the mirror.

"What's that smell?" Cody asked curiously. It didn't smell bad though. It was actually quite a good smell.

"My cologne," Zack said, grinning.

"You mean _my _cologne," Cody said, putting a large emphasis on the word 'my'. "And why did you randomly decided to use it?"

"I randomly decided to use _our _cologne," Zack started, putting more emphasis on 'our' that Cody had put on 'my', "because I don't want to stink when I talk to Maddie."

"Wow, first you actually start to bathe, and then using cologne. You might actually be clean for once in your life," Cody said, mock-excitedly.

"Ha ha, very funny," said Zack sarcastically.

He went into the living room and over to the kitchen as Cody went to take a bath. Zack quickly ate his cereal and drank his mil and rushed out the door. He rushed to the elevator, pressing the down button. He waited for about half a minute before there was a ding, and the doors slid open. "Finally," he muttered under his breath. He stepped in, and pressed the lowest button, which had the word 'lobby' printed over it. He leaned on the back of the small elevator while it slowly made its way down, letting out a barely audible ding every time they passed another floor. Finally, there was a louder ding, and the doors slid open again.

Zack ran into the lobby, and hopped the few stairs, landing in front of the candy counter. He shifted his eyes to Maddie and grinned. "Hey, sweet thang," he said, using the line he used all the time.

"Before you get any ideas, Zack, that was only a friendly kiss last night," Maddie said.

Zack's grin was quickly replaced by a frown, and he hung his head. "That's what I was afraid of," he said depressed.

He sulked over to the couch, and plopped down as Cody walked out of the elevators and sat next to his brother on the couch, looking at the tree.

"So how'd it go with Maddie?" Cody asked.

"Exactly how you predicted. It was just a friendly kiss," Zack said, still very sad.

"Well, at least it was a kiss. You can still do what you said you could do last night. You can still _pretend_ it was more than a friendly kiss," Cody said, trying to cheer his brother up.

"It's just not the same," Zack said. He decided to try to get over it though, so he put a smile on his face. "Wannna go sledding, bro?" he asked cheerily.

"Are you sure you're in the mood?" Cody asked.

"Of course. I'm always in the mood for sledding. You go get the sleds, and I'll go…do whatever I need to do outside to get prepared." Zack said.

Cody rolled his eyes and went to the elevator as Zack went outside. Zack plopped down in the snow, looking at the hill behind the hotel while waiting for Cody. He looked at all angles, trying to find the part of the hill with the biggest slope, which, of course, would be the most fun to sled down. Just as he found the right spot, Cody appeared with the sleds. Zack quickly got one, and set it down where he knew the best slope was.

"Wanna race?" Zack asked, grinning because he knew he would win.

"Sure, why not?" said Cody, setting his sled down near Zack's and getting on it.

"1…" Zack started.

"2…" Cody followed.

"3!" they exclaimed in unison and kicked off, flying down the snowy hill. Zack glanced over, and Cody was neck and neck with him. Zack looked confused, but got even more surprised when Cody leaned forward more and got a little ahead of Zack. Zack narrowed his eyes, and leaned forward more himself. But he happened to lean too far over in hope that it would make him go faster. He fell head first and the sled rolled over him. He began laughing, and Cody was soon in front of him, doing the exact same.

"That's what you get for trying to use the biggest slope as an advantage over me," Cody said. Zack gaped.

"How'd you know I did that?" he asked.

"Oh, please. What else would you do when you were waiting?" Cody replied sarcastically.

"Good point," Zack said, beaten.


	8. Another Rehearsal

A/N: Sorry about not updating, didn't have the ideas or inspiration, so now I'm going to just sit down and do it. Please don't get mad at me if it isn't as good as the other chapters, since I'm trying my hardest to update right now. Anyway, enjoy.

The twins walked into the suite, still laughing at how Zack toppled over when he tried to make his sled go faster. Cody was making funny faces to make fun of what Zack looked like when he began to fall, but Zack still just laughed at them, knowing Cody was only joking around.

They walked over to the small breakfast bar, since it was still pretty early in the morning, and got some hot chocolate. The two slowly sipped it every now and then as they walked over to the elevator, which was quick to open this time, and they got in as it began to slowly go up.

As they walked out of the elevator, Mr. Moseby came up behind them and lightly tapped Zack on the shoulder, and he jumped, nearly spilling his hot chocolate. Zack calmed down while Cody burst out laughing.

"Ah, there you two are, I've been looking everywhere for you," Mr. Moseby said.

Zack and Cody looked at each other and then back at Moseby and said, "We didn't do it!" in unison.

"Didn't do what?" Mr. Moseby asked suspiciously.

"Errr, nothing. Why were you looking for us?" Zack asked, wondering.

"I just wanted to tell you that there is now a definite date for the Holiday Battle of the Bands. It's December 23rd."

"Wow, that's only four days away! We better rehearse more often," Zack quickly remarked.

"How much money has it made so far?" Cody asked, also wanting to know how many bands there were to compete against.

"Well, with eleven bands signed up, every guest buying a ticket, and over on hundred people from outside of the hotel buying tickets, it's made 5,330 dollars," Mr. Moseby said.

Zack and Cody's mouths immediately hung open, them staring at Mr. Moseby in awe.

"That's a lot of money!" Zack nearly yelled.

"Yes, it is. More than enough to pay the cash prizes for the winners. It looks like you two actually helped out instead of making my life harder. Here's a reward for it."

He gave both of them twenty dollars, and they rushed into their suite. They were both surprised by the amount that the Battle of the Bands competition brought in, and by how generous Mr. Moseby was.

"Wow, twenty bucs for nearly nothing!" Zack said excitedly.

"That's nothing to the $500 prize money we'll hopefully be getting!" Cody replied, just as excited.

"Hopefully? Have you heard our song? We'll definitely get it," Zack said, laughing.

The next day, the entire band once again met in the laundry room. Cody brought his old electric guitar and his acoustic guitar, remembering that once Max had said she had taken guitar lessons when she was young. So they set up while she played a little to bring back the memories.

They had decided a few days previous to that day that Max would play an electric guitar to counter melody the acoustic guitar. Once she had remembered what the frets were to correspond with the notes, and the few tricks she had learned to make it easier to move through the frets quicker, and she had learned the music to the guitar, they plugged it up to a small amp, which Cody and Zack had bought with their $40 total plus the rest of the money they had.

They gave her, Tapeworm, and Cody a mic. Tapeworm's and Max's were to sing, and Cody's was to put in front of the strings of his acoustic to make it able to hear behind everything else. Zack's keyboard was plugged into an outlet and turned all the way up. After turning on the amp and turning it all the way up as well, they were ready.

They rehearsed for a long time, nearly the entire day, knowing that they had to get perfect at it to win the Battle of the Bands. By the end of the day, they were all tired, and left the stuff set up in the laundry room, since Arwin locked it up every night, and they had told him that they were going to leave it there.

They all said goodnight to each other, and sulked off to their suites and cars, in Max and Tapeworm's cases, and they all went to bed as soon as they got home, or to their suite in Zack and Cody's cases.

The next morning, Cody woke up early. It was 5:48 to be exact. He rubbed his eyes, and looked at the red numbers on the clock before the '8' turned into a '9'. He then dragged himself out of bed, once again rubbing his eyes. He then remembered that their band had agreed to meet in the Laundry Room once again at six.

So his eyes shot open and he quickly shook Zack awake. He reminded Zack as well, who shot out of bed as quickly as possible. Cody ate a small breakfast while Zack took an extremely quick shower, and while Cody was in the shower, Zack got dressed and ate a small breakfast, too. As soon as Cody was out and dressed, they bolted to the elevator, repeatedly pressing the button, as if pressing it more would make it come faster.

Once it arrived on their floor, they jumped in, and pressed the button of the floor that the laundry room was on, and waited anxiously as it set into movement. In the middle of the elevator ride, Cody checked his watch, which read '5:59'. They stumbled out once it stopped, and met with Max and Tapeworm at the door, since they arrived at the exact same time.

They both let out a sigh of relief as Zack pushed the key to the Laundry Room into the socket, and turned it, unlocking the door and pushing it open. As they got set up again, turning on the mics, turning on the amp, etc. Max wondered about something, and decided to ask.

"Just a question, how in the world did you get that key, Zack?" she asked.

"Oh, Arwin gave it to me before he left here last night when I told him we had to meet here early," Zack explained.

"Then how did he lock up last night?"

"This one's a spare key."


	9. Another Idea

After the band kicked off the song, they got into it quickly, and it flowed perfectly, sounding even better with the mixture of acoustic guitar and electric guitar. After a long set of rehearsals, they decided to have Cody have a guitar solo, and Zack have a piano solo. As always, Tapeworm sang the first verse, Max sang the second, Tapeworm sang the third, and they all sang the chorus.

After they played it all the way through the first time including everything they had put together for the song, they all loved it, and it had a length of four minutes and thirty-seven seconds. So it had a wonderful beat, good singers, good instrument players, and good length. Who wouldn't love it?

At around 10:15, the whole group walked out of the laundry room, laughing at jokes and carrying on casual conversation. They parted once again, going to take showers. After Zack and Cody both had showers, they decided to spend the day inside, since the other days they had gone outside for a large portion of the day, except for the day before, when all they did was sled and then came back in and had a rehearsal.

When they went to the refrigerator to get something to eat for lunch, they saw that their mom had already made a microwavable pizza, and was just about to start eating. So they both sat down and the family said the blessing, and began eating. Half way through the lunch, Zack had an idea.

"Hey mom, can Cody and I throw a Christmas party?" he asked politely, and then took another bite of the pizza.

Cody immediately shot him a strange look, but then smiled, since he thought it was actually a good idea. He had only given him the strange look in the first place because they hadn't said anything about it to each other before, so it wasn't something he was expecting. Carey thought about it for a while, and then shrugged.

"Sure why not? How many people to you plan on inviting?" she asked.

Zack stared into space, thinking about who to invite. Of course, he and his brother would be there. Then he'd want to invite Tapeworm, Max, Bob, Warren, Maddie, and London. So that would be a total of…6 people to invite.

"Six," he answered after thinking about it.

"When do you want to have it?" she asked.

"Well, I'd want them to spend the night, except for Maddie and London, since that would be weird since they're older, so it couldn't be the 22nd or 24th, so what about tomorrow?" Zack asked.

"That'd be fine if you're not planning anything big," Carey said.

"No, just thinking about a reason to have a party. Maybe we could just eat some cookies and milk, and then watch some movies," Zack said, once again thinking about it.

"Okay, that's fine," Carey said.

After lunch, Zack and Cody discussed it a bit more. They would watch Miracle on 34th Street, the color version, and then they could watch Home Alone, then Polar Express. Then Maddie and London would leave about that time. Then they could watch Home Alone 2, and then the rest of them could do whatever they wanted from then on out.

So Zack went down to the lobby to find Maddie and London while Cody stayed in their suite to call their other friends.

Zack easily found Maddie, since she worked at the candy counter.

"Hey Maddie, want to come over at around 5 or 6 tomorrow to watch some movies?" Zack asked.

"As in a date?" Maddie asked, giving him a strange look, though getting some warm feeling on the inside that she couldn't explain.

"No, a Christmas Party," he answered, though he liked the sound of him and Maddie going on a date.

"Oh, sure, sounds fun."

"Cool," Zack said, leaving to find London.

He soon found London walked toward the elevators from the restaurant that was at the Tipton. Zack quickly intercepted her before she got to the elevator.

"Hey, London, want to come to our Christmas Party?" he asked.

London, who had matured quite a bit over the past years, replied, "Sure, what time would it be?"

"Around 5 or 6," Zack replied.

"Okay, I'll be there!"

Zack then took the elevator up to the 23rd floor, and then walked to their suite. He opened the door and walked in, seeing Cody on the couch.

"Maddie and London are coming. Did the others say yes?" Zack asked as he shut the door behind him.

"Yup, they're all coming," Cody said excitedly.

"Cool," Zack said, sitting on the couch next to his identical twin.

They were now watching a Christmas special on ABC Family. It was It's A Wonderful Life. Zack thought it was a cool movie, but Cody loved it. It was his favorite Christmas movie.

After It's A Wonderful Life, it was around 6:30, and they decided to go to bed early, since they didn't have anything else to do.

The next day they woke up at 10:30, got their showers, ate pop-tarts for breakfast, and left the suite at 12 noon to Hollywood Video to rent all the movies. After that, they went to the grocery store to pick up some more milk, and the Christmas Cookie Dough. They then returned to the hotel, getting there at around 1 o'clock.

Zack and Cody got bored, since they were excited about that night, so decided to go to the game room, where they recently got a ping pong table. They played several games. The first one, Zack beat Cody 21-10. The second one, Cody skunked Zack, 11-1. The third one, Cody won again, 24-22. And the third one, Zack won 21-17. Then, they went into a tie breaker.

"Whoever wins this one wins the entire thing," Zack said grinning, holding his paddle tightly.

Cody nodded, and served the ball. P-I-N-G lasted around 11 hits, and Zack won. So he served first. He said 0-0, which was the score. He then served it. Cody got a quick return to the left corner, and Zack reached back quickly, hitting it up and over the net, and then Cody spiked it. It was now 0-1.

Zack said the score, and quickly served it. Cody grinned, and spiked it immediately on that point, and Zack jumped back, hitting it. It hit the top of the net, but didn't go over. Zack let out a short sigh, and then got the ping pong ball again. He said the score, 0-2, and then served it. Cody once again spiked it, but this time Zack was ready. He hit it back with a large amount of backspin on it, and it hit the table, but hardly bounced, so Cody wasn't able to hit it back. 1-2.


	10. The Beginning of the Christmas Party

Zack grinned now, and decided to use the serve he had been working on alone for a long time now. He threw it up high in the air, keeping his eyes on it as it fell. Right before it hit the table, he swiped his paddle under it quickly. It flew at a high speed over the net, hitting the table lightly. Cody went for it, but the large amount of backspin that Zack had put on it made it bounce back toward the net, which Cody hadn't expected at all.

2-2. Zack did the same serve. Cody got it over this time, but had to lob it up to do so, and Zack finished with a spike. He had pulled ahead 3-2. Now, it was Cody's turn to serve, which was his best aspect of Ping Pong. He threw it up barely, and rammed it with the paddle. It flew at twice the speed of Zack's fastest serve over the net, hit the ping pong table, and went by so quick that Zack's swing at it missed and the ball hit Zack in the stomach. Of course, though, it didn't hurt because it was just a ping pong ball.

3-3. Cody served it again, just as fast. Zack barely hit this one, though was able to keep it from being a lob. Cody hit it back with backspin. Zack saw the backspin swing, and expected hit, hitting it with topspin to even it out. Cody hit it back again, this time with no spin, but with speed and accuracy. Zack jumped back and hit it back. Cody hit it back immediately, but hit it barely downward. It hit the net and rolled over it, so when it hit the other side of the table it hardly bounced at all. Zack growled, but picked it up and threw it to Cody, getting ready for his serve again.

4-3, Cody's lead. Cody hit it with a different serve this time. Not as fast, but a load of spin, throwing Zack off, forcing him to hit it into the net. 5-3. Cody served his usual spin again and Zack was prepared, using the speed to build up momentum with his swing, doubling the speed of the serve as he hit it back. Cody hadn't expected such a good return, and sat there stunned as it flew by him with an orange blur.

He turned around and got it, using the spin serve. Zack grinned and hit it back with backspin, having the same effect as the last one by doubling what Cody had put on it. Cody had expected it, but he wasn't able to return the ping pong ball due to too much spin to handle. Zack tied it up 5-5.

It was once again Zack's turn to serve, with the game as close as it could be. This time, he decided to surprise Cody. He served a relatively easy serve, but right when he was done serving it, he put his paddle in a Japanese grip. When Cody returned it, Zack easily spiked it within mere milliseconds of it bouncing off the table. He grinned as Cody went to get the ball. 6-5, Zack's lead.

After a long time of trading points, it was 20-20, Cody's serve. They were both sweating, but still ready as ever. Cody served the best he could, and Zack returned well. Cody hit it back, Zack returned it. Cody spiked it, but Zack ran back and hit it, miraculously hitting the table. He then rushed back to the table, getting there in time to hit Cody's return back.

This point seemed to last forever. It actually lasted for about three minutes. Neither of them had the willpower to hit major kill-shots, and both were worried about losing, so they played defensively. Cody eventually hit a good one, where Zack barely got it over. Cody hit it with extreme backspin, and won the point. He actually didn't mean to put such backspin on it, so it was completely coincidental.

"I forfeit," Zack said.

"Why? You have to win by two!" Cody quickly replied, surprised that Zack was giving up.

"Because it's 4:17, the party starts around 5, and we need to get showers after sweating so much," Zack reasoned.

"Good point," Cody replied, nodding.

They both rushed to the elevators and then to the 23rd floor, then to their suite. They got to their suite at 4:21, so they didn't have much time. They quickly decided who would get in the shower first by a quick rock, paper, scissors game, and then took their quick showers and got ready.

They walked out of their room, just getting done getting ready, as they heard a knock on the door. Their first guest. Or guests, if someone had come together.

"I'll get it," chimed Carey, getting the cookies out of the oven, and then heading to the door.

When she opened it, it revealed Maddie and London in the doorway, with Warren and Bob coming in right behind them. Zack and Cody greeted them politely. Their mom closed the door, and then set the cookies on the table. Bob was the first to try and grab one, but Carey stopped him.

"They just came out of the oven, so you have to let them sit for a while," she said, taking off her oven mits and setting them on the counter.

She disappeared into her room after she said goodnight to them all. She was really tired, and decided to go to bed early. Only seconds after, there was more knocking on the door, and Zack went to get it as Cody put Miracle on 34th Street in the DVD player. Soon, they were all ready and Cody pressed play on the DVD remote. Warren got his own chair, and so did London. The rest sat on the couch, in order from left to right, Zack, Maddie, Cody, Bob.

In the middle of the first movie, Warren got up to get the Christmas cookies. He passed the tray around. Everyone got two, and Warren put the tray back up.

At the end of Home Alone, they were all laughing hysterically, as the stupid robbers fell victim to the clever traps of the young kid. It finally ended, and they were all practically crying from laughing so hard.

Then Zack put Polar Express in and took his regular seat on the couch while Cody pressed play. Around five minutes into the movie, Zack glanced at Maddie, who was deeply intrigued in the movie so far. His glance turned into a stare eventually, though no one noticed. He finally drug his eyes back to the movie, though, so no one would notice if he had stared for too long.

But around fifteen minutes later, he once again glanced at Maddie. He decided to make a daring move, but he had to if he expected their relationship as friend to turn into anything more. He slowly lifted his arm from his side to the air, and then slowly took it back down until it was around her shoulders. She acknowledged it by looking at Zack, but made no move to remove it.

Zack mentally cheered, but kept quiet. But what made the night what it became was later on. Around twenty minutes before the movie was older, Maddie glanced at Zack, and then let her head fall peacefully on his shoulder. His eyes widened as he turned his head toward her, and she just smiled.

After the movie was over, they all seemed to stretch and yawn. It was now time for Maddie and London to leave. They got up off the couch, and went toward the door. Zack followed them, opening the door for them. They all said by to the two as they left. But right before Maddie left, she said good night to Zack sweetly, and gave him another peck on the cheek.


	11. The Christmas Party Part 2

Cody laughed silently at Zack's shock as the door closed in front of him. It was about a minute before Zack moved, and he returned to the cough as Cody got Home Alone 2 out and popped it in.

Bob got in London's chair as the movie began. Out of the two original Home Alones, this was the favorite of all four of them. As it began slowly, it got into the comedic parts and everyone began to burst out laughing at various parts, with very short pauses between each fit of laughter. At the end of the movie, Zack wiped his eyes dry from all the laughing as Cody got up and took the movie out.

"So, what now?" Bob asked curiously.

"I dunno, but something that still has to do with Christmas, because otherwise it wouldn't feel like a Christmas part," Zack said with everyone nodding in agreement.

"Maybe we could go to the game room and ya'll could practice more songs, not only your own song but other Christmas songs, while Bob and I play ping pong," Warren suggested.

"Sounds good," Tapeworm replied.

So they got the acoustic and electric guitars and the keyboard with the stand and headed downstairs. They snuck through the empty lobby since there were still rooms somewhat close, and then headed to the game room, which was also empty, but they closed the door to make sure not to wake anyone.

Zack opened into the song with the piano, followed by Cody picking up on the acoustic, and then Max added in an electric guitar counter melody as the last bit of instrumental. Tapeworm began singing the first verse and Bob served it for the first part of the ping pong game.

When the score was 18-17, the song ended. Cody began strumming a tune that sounded like a small rendition of Joy to the World. Zack grinned, remembering the way they had played it one time that had been a different version that they both agreed was cooler. Zack began playing Jim Brickman's version of Joy to the World on the piano that added a nice melody to what the guitar had started off. Max listened for a while until she caught on, and then began playing something barely different than what Cody was playing, followed by Tapeworm joining in and singing.

Bob won the game 21-19 in the middle of the song. The piano stopped abruptly, throwing everyone off beat, and then the song stopped altogether.

"Thanks a lot, Zack," Cody said exasperated.

"Hey, I couldn't resist playing the winner!" Zack protested in defense.

"Whatever," Cody sighed, strumming the slow tune to Silent Night on his acoustic while Zack started off against Bob.

Max joined in with the same tune, and Tapeworm began singing as well, as Zack served, mouthing 'P' as he served it, signaling the middle of P-I-N-G to find out who got to serve first. Bob won with a well placed shot on the right corner of Zack's side.

Almost every single point turned into spin battles, both players equally skilled. This also led to a lot of sprints for the ball when it flew off the table due to the crazy spin on it. After a long time of playing, Zack won at 47-45, one of the longest games either of them had ever played.

"GOODNESS!" Zack yelled at the end. "That took forever! Sheesh," he said, everyone laughing.

Then Zack and Cody played Bob and Tapeworm in a game of doubles while Max and Warren played against each other in air hockey. They continued to all talk with each other, even though they were on separate games, which led to some of them losing focus and missing a ball or puck because of it, but it was all in good fun.

At about one o'clock, they finally returned back up to the apartment, and got in their spots to sleep in the living room, Zack and Cody sharing the couch bed, Max in one chair, Warren in another, and Bob and Tapeworm sleeping on stacked up quilts on the floor. In about fifteen minutes, all of them were fast asleep.

Zack woke up the next morning to a cinnamon aroma. He rubbed his eyes and got up to see his mom microwaving some microwavable cinnamon rolls. He woke Cody up, and they waked up everyone else. They watched Miracle on 34th Street on the TV while Carey finished making the cinnamon rolls. After she was done, they gathered around the table and each got two cinnamon rolls and a few pancakes, which Carey also microwaved for them.

After they got done, they said bye to Carey, Warren and Bob left, and the rest of them gathered the equipment and headed down to the laundry room again. Arwin was working on some random thing when they came in and didn't notice them. Max giggled quietly and plugged in her electric guitar to the amp and turned it all the way up. She then grabbed a pick and strummed the strings as hard as possible, and it produced an extremely loud boom that startled Arwin so much that he fell out of his chair. Everyone burst out laughing.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," she said, still laughing, as she turned the amp back down to the appropriate volume.

They began playing yet again as he continued to work on whatever it was that he was working on. They played it through perfectly, no one messing up on the lyrics, no one messing up on the instrumentals, and no more modifications to make.

"Perfect," Zack said, grinning.

They started again to continue practicing, since the Battle of the Bands was only two days away, and they wanted to make sure they did perfectly so they could win the prize money and get the perfect song done. As they finished the fifth time through, each one being perfect, Arwin finished his work, still nobody having any idea of what it was.

"All you all ready to see the _perfect_ present for Carey?!" Arwin asked excitedly.

"Sure," they all mumbled.

He then grabbed what it was and turned around to show them. Their mouths all dropped. It was definitely the perfect present for Carey. It was an amazing diamond necklace, and Arwin had been working on a few adjustments, which included rearranging the diamonds a little to make the big one in the middle with it dwindling on both sides as it went around instead of it having the biggest diamond on one side and them getting smaller as they went around.

"Where did you get the money for that thing?" asked Zack, still in shock.

"Well, I worked a lot of overtime ever since early November, and I finally saved up enough for it," he said.

Then Zack thought that maybe he should get Maddie jewelry. His cut of the prize money would be enough to buy a bracelet with a small diamond as one of the charms. Who knows, she might like it so much that she'd give him a kiss. It was unlikely, but possible, which made Zack grin.

**A/N: Sorry for the lousy chapter. I couldn't think of much, but I wanted to update, so…yeah. Here ya go.**


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